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‘Despacito’ Ties Record For Longest Stretch As US No.1

DESPACITO, the infectious Latin dance track led by Luis Fonsi, on Monday tied the record for most weeks at number one of the benchmark US singles chart.

The song, in a remixed version featuring pop celebrity Justin Bieber, spent its 16th week on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the seven days through Thursday, tracking service Nielsen Music said.

The song ties with One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, which reigned at the top of the chart for 16 weeks in 1995 and 1996.

The feat of Despacito is all the more extraordinary as non-English songs rarely dominate the US market. The last Spanish-language song to hit number one was Macarena in 1996.

The original version of Despacito featuring the Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee but not Bieber has already cracked the record for all-time most views on YouTube, with the video watched more than 3.4 billion times since its debut in Jan.

Fonsi, a veteran pop singer in Puerto Rico, created the sensational hit by turning to the sounds of reggaeton, the dance music historically associated with marginalized communities on the island, with lyrics full of sexual innuendo.

Despacito has spawned a slew of covers and parodies around the world. But it also was banned in Muslim-majority Malaysia, which deemed the song too sexual.

It looks unlikely that Despacito will break the record outright for most weeks at number one.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift on Friday released Look What You Made Me Do, the first track off her upcoming album.

The song was streamed more than eight million times on its first day on Spotify, breaking a record on the streaming site – which Swift until recently boycotted over objections to the compensation it provides to artists. — AFP